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Play with IdeasTue, 05 Sep 2017 08:13:26 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9Comment on Are board game themes in need of a shakeup? by Olliehttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/09/04/are-board-game-themes-in-need-of-a-shakeup/#comment-1086
Tue, 05 Sep 2017 08:13:26 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3298#comment-1086It’s interesting how you mention the popularity of Samurais as a theme. I’ve been amazed at the number of games that draw upon Japanese culture more generally as the basis of their theme, when the designers themselves have no roots in Japan.

Another theme I always see coming up is that of explorers. This is another one that again seems to suit the medium of board games as you can simulate the randomness of discoveries and encounters through card drawing or dice rolling.

]]>Comment on 5 Predictions For The Future of Tabletop Gaming by ernest funkelhttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/08/31/5-predictions-for-the-future-of-tabletop-gaming/#comment-1085
Thu, 31 Aug 2017 15:51:09 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3295#comment-1085agreed
]]>Comment on How To Steal (Like a Game Designer) by 5 important trends from Gencon 50 | Inside the Box Board Gameshttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/08/17/how-to-steal-like-a-game-designer/#comment-1084
Mon, 28 Aug 2017 16:48:02 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3260#comment-1084[…] years the tabletop industry has seen incredible change and innovation. As Tom wrote about on the blog last week, these changes often spread out and filter through the industry as a […]
]]>Comment on Ludonomics – Pricing in the Tabletop Industry by Homepagehttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/07/14/ludonomics-pricing-in-the-tabletop-industry/#comment-1082
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 17:58:31 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3211#comment-1082… [Trackback]

]]>Comment on Character Development – Learning from the Best by John Sharphttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/07/18/character-development-learning-from-the-best/#comment-1081
Thu, 20 Jul 2017 10:24:26 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3228#comment-1081I enjoyed this post. Character development is an area of interest for me as a writer and an avid fan of roleplay games. I wrote a post about why we tend to indetify with certain character types a while of go on my blog at https://itsmorethanjustgaming.com/2017/05/01/our-characters-of-choice-who-do-we-readwatch-and-who-do-we-play/ . (And I have another one going out next week as it happens). Thanks for sharing this
]]>Comment on Ludonomics – Pricing in the Tabletop Industry by Dr. Wictzhttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/07/14/ludonomics-pricing-in-the-tabletop-industry/#comment-1080
Tue, 18 Jul 2017 14:27:39 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3211#comment-1080First kudos for bringing in the Economics (says the design team that includes on Econ Prof).

Second, I am going to challenge you to restate your reflections using more Economic theory.

First suggested reading: The Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson

It appears to me you are arguing there exists a positive externality with a free riding problem. Take a quick read of Olson’s work (his stuff is pretty accessible) and apply.

Another potential story may involve a contracting issue between the retailer and the game manufacturer. These stories (as you will see in the reading) get a bit more complex initially, but tend to become more intuitive once you find the key sticking point.

I will take one example from the auto industry. Auto manufacturers engage in price discrimination (which can be welfare increasing, ask Emily for the details) by creating different perceived quality car brands. Car manufactures tend to not own their own retailers (there is a whole slew of reasons that is a discussion within itself), but they want to make sure their top end dealers are working to sell a high quality produce/experience.

They do not want you to show up to a Lexus dealer with dirty floors and shoudy sale service. These Lexus dealers may get away if a poor quality experience because they price compete to attract your business. Price competition undermines price discrimination and the brand the manufacturer is trying to sell. The manufacturer may elect to imposes a RPM floor to force their luxury dealers to compete on quality instead of price.

Note the auto example is very specific. To also apply to board games you first need to identify an an economic welfare loss problem (case of auto price discrimination) where RPM is a contractual solution to solve the problem.

]]>Comment on How will 3D printing shape the future of tabletop gaming? by Martin bacinhttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/07/17/how-will-3d-printing-shape-the-future-of-tapletop-gaming/#comment-1079
Mon, 17 Jul 2017 17:48:54 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3223#comment-1079Does this lead into releasing STL files for things like the ST miniatures post production?
]]>Comment on Ludonomics – Pricing in the Tabletop Industry by Chern Ann Nghttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/07/14/ludonomics-pricing-in-the-tabletop-industry/#comment-1078
Sat, 15 Jul 2017 07:17:22 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3211#comment-1078The choice of economic model used to illustrate this is incorrect in that this isn’t a MAP on board games as a whole, but on specific products. Consumers are free to buy games from other publishers. Economic harm only occurs if all publishers collude, which would be illegal everywhere and undesirable. e.g. Apple can and does maintain control of its distribution chain everywhere to ensure consistent pricing (legal) but cannot collude with Samsung to ensure the pricing of smart phones is above a certain level.

It also presupposes retailers are perfectly rational beings out to maximize profit for a SPECIFIC product. In the real world, a retailer has many different products to sell and they have a choice of both what they stock and how they price it, in order to get the most out of their business.

For a real world example – game is the “new hotness” on Kickstarter. Demand is high and outstrips publisher supply. Instead of marking up the game accordingly, an online retailer with deep pockets and good distribution connections chooses to loss lead with it (selling at a very low markup) in order to ride on the popularity of the game to drive new business to their online shopfront, in the hopes of acquiring a regular customer.

This is great for the customer and this specific store, but damages the publisher and the rest of the ecosystem. It rapidly devalues a product and establishes a price ceiling which, from experience, is hard to repair – i.e. The “q” of people willing to buy at a profitable price drops below a level where local operations can make money, which means they won’t stock it, which leads to a decrease in sales for the publisher, and not an increase as this economic model would predict. These lost sales don’t migrate online either – local store recommendations can and so have an effect on what customers buy. Since the local store isn’t curling up and dying but instead selling something else, the publisher loses out to its competition that IS being stocked.

]]>Comment on Ludonomics – Pricing in the Tabletop Industry by Chern Ann Nghttp://itbboardgames.com/2017/07/14/ludonomics-pricing-in-the-tabletop-industry/#comment-1077
Sat, 15 Jul 2017 07:08:18 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3211#comment-1077In terms of unit quantity, we sell significantly more units into distribution than on Kickstarter – for example Zombicide did 5k units on Kickstarter and about 150k worldwide by 2014.
]]>Comment on Ludonomics – Pricing in the Tabletop Industry by Yuri A.http://itbboardgames.com/2017/07/14/ludonomics-pricing-in-the-tabletop-industry/#comment-1076
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 22:37:44 +0000http://itbboardgames.com/?p=3211#comment-1076I agree that B&M are fighting an unfair battle against online shops and I agree if in some way things become fair. From my POV I have no B&M mortar on my town, the nearest one is about 30 minutes by car and I don’t even have time to attend their events due my job. So, I buy mainly online and cheaper.

Now if the price would be the same I will be incentivated to visit a local store more often giving them my support.

On the other side the surplus that is described is not only the willingness to pay more but the avail ability that the person econically has. If the price rise with the surplus I can buy less. To make an example if with 100 pound before I could by 3 games with MAP maybe I can buy only 2. While the general market has the same revenue the single publisher sell less games, yes but with higher profit.

So I think that the publisher should find the right balance. Magic the Gatering still selling a lot thanks to all the FNM all around the world that is covered in capillary way.

One idea, IMHO, of course are tournament like you want to do, can be offer special promo or other kind of extras to give with a copy only by B&M? Or maybe doing that if you buy a copy while a tournament is running in your FGLS? We should add a little value on what B&M sell compared to online stores like a mini SG without thinking about MAP and be against the law.